In my youth group, I was taught once that the best way to recognize a counterfeit is by carefully examining and remembering the real thing. The anecdote that attended this lesson drew from the training of experts who spot fake currency. As the story went, they spent long hours studying every detail of real money so as to be prepared to note any possible deviation from it. This was deemed a more effective method of preparation than exhaustively cataloging the fakes. With most important or valuable matters in life, we should be especially wary of fakes because these are the very things that are most worth the effort of faking. Likewise, over the time we’ve spent thinking about a Christian idea of what it means to rest, I’ve tried to focus on the real thing, rather than by focusing on all the false visions that run about in our world.

Come Away and Rest (On Christian Rest, Part IV)

In our previous post, we talked about the extending of the horizon of the old covenant Sabbath through the Resurrection of our Lord, how He makes that Sabbath the occasion for a new work through His rising again. As should be apparent by now, the Sabbath means something very different for the Christian than it meant for the Jew, even if they are continuous with one another in the Person of Christ. It will help if we look to the Gospels for guidance.

The Lord of the Sabbath (On Christian Rest, Part III)

Sabbath is remembrance. It is to remember and anticipate through a moment the world of God’s great seventh day, of Creation as it is known with God enthroned, consecrating all things and celebrating them with delight. But modern people have a difficult time approaching remembrance because they consider it a matter of ‘thinking’ rather than ‘being.’ This is not how the Scriptures communicate ‘remembrance’ to us.

Remembering the Sabbath (On Christian Rest, Part II)

We closed Part I by thinking about the futility of our toil and how it can only deliver expiration and collapse rather than real rest. We came to understand that we must somehow be returned to the Lord’s anointed rest, that seventh day of Creation that consecrated the whole creative work. I would like to propose that the means by which we are led back into that rest, despite our continual tendencies to avoid it, is to attend to the remembrance of the Sabbath as it becomes the Eucharist through its fulfillment in Christ. In this post, we will take a look at the first of the two.

The Lord of the Sabbath

Sabbath is remembrance. It is to remember and anticipate through a moment the world of God’s great seventh day, of Creation as it is known with God enthroned, consecrating all things and celebrating them with delight. But modern people have a difficult time approaching remembrance because they consider it a matter of ‘thinking’ rather than ‘being.’ This is not how the Scriptures communicate ‘remembrance’ to us.

Fake Rest (On Christian Rest, Part 6)

Christian Life, Spiritual DisciplinesFr. Hayden ButlerOctober 15, 2022rest, sabbath, false rest, fake rest, christian rest

Come Away and Rest (On Christian Rest, Part 4)

Christian Life, Spiritual FormationFr. Hayden ButlerOctober 1, 2022rest, christian rest, come away

The Lord of the Sabbath (On Christian Rest, Part 3)

Christian Life, Spiritual FormationFr. Hayden ButlerSeptember 24, 2022sabbath, rest, christian rest, death, resurrection, time, kingdom time

Remembering the Sabbath (On Christian Rest, Part 2)

Christian Life, Spiritual FormationFr. Hayden ButlerSeptember 17, 2022rest, sabbath, christian rest, part 2

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